Interesting response from dobinsons

I have been taking a hard look at the dobinsons kit for my 06 DC. I inquired to see if they made a kit that would be 3inches instead of the 2.5 standard one they offer. (Only because i know lots of guys put 3" on trucks with other brands). They stated that they dont as I would lose too much down travel.. in my email I also asked if they had UCA to go along with them. Am I missing something? I thought with a proper lift kit I would not lose down travel but maybe even increase my overall travel? Thanks for feedback.

 

"most guys use JBA". I had to google JBA upper control arms as I've never heard of them and don't know a single 1st Gen Tundra owner that's using them. There are interesting looking.

I don't understand his email.

 

they're a pretty good value though...

 

Possibly. I'd like to see even a single review though. His response that "most guys run them" seems like a load of B.S.

 

True. From reading reviews on their website, they've only been out for a couple months.

 

He is correct, the more you lift (by coilover) the less down travel you will have available.

A lot of guys talk about spring pre load, it is a largely misunderstood and in most cases incorrect concept. When you lift your truck by cranking the coil mount down from the top (or up from the bottom, depends on design) you aren't loading the spring but you are pushing its mounting point down on the shock body. This extends the shock shaft (down travel or droop). The more you lift, the less extension you have available at static ride height. If you don't have enough travel available it will ride crappy over bumps and dips.

Go with 2.5" you'll never notice the difference, or if you have 4wd go with 2" to save your CV boots some life. If you want more lift than that look into a bracket lift and you won't lose any travel.

 

https://www.dobinsonsdirect.com/pro...ride-rear?rq=mk_toyota~md_tundra~yr_2000-2006
I included a screenshot of original email. I am not doing a coilover like icon but more like stock but new with some lift. I was looking into old man emu and dobinsons. Going with one of these two setups I will lose my down travel???

 

Yes, same rules apply. If you are moving the coil perch like a 5100 shock, that pushes the shaft out of the body. Even if you leave the perch alone and run a longer spring, thatpushes the shaft from the body. There isn't really a way around it.

You can run 3" of lift, but it will feel harsh on speed bumps and your upper ball joints will be clacking. I did it for a while with upgraded upper arms but it didn't ride well, now I'm barely at 2" of lift and the ride is noticeably better.

@FirstGenVol totally agree about the upper arms, that's such an odd response.

 

That sucks. I assumed with everyone who had spent the money on new suspension with UCA etc were at least retaining stock amounts of travel if not more.

 

You are right, kind of. Total travel number remains the same, essentially, but not as usable.

Let's pretend at stock ride height the truck has 4" of up travel and 5" of down travel, then you crank the coils down to gain lift. Now you might have 6" of up travel and 3" of down travel, but still 9" overall.

Now, having 3" of down travel left sucks because if you hit a pothole the suspension will max out downward and cause your truck to drop in, rather than keeping the tire planted and absorbing the jolt. Also, the 6" of up travel you'll only fully realize after a hard bounce since your springs take a lot of force to fully collapse. Most aftermarket coils for these trucks are 650 pounds, meaning it takes 650 pounds to compress them an inch, so how much pressure to compress them 6 inches? You'll have the full range of travel still technically but you'll have a hard time getting that compression maxed out.

That's why if you go too high by coilover(expensive adjustable coilover or reasonably priced shock and spring combo) the ride ends up feeling jolty.

 

Great explanation.

Stay with stock suspension and huge body lift...

 

That makes sense. However if your buying new coils and new shock i am perplexed on losing the down travel. Is that because the lower control arm is limited by factory specs..?

 

If the spring is either heavier rating than stock (takes more force to collapse, so creates a higher ride height) or taller than stock (14" long vs 13" long) the way the lift is achieved is the same. The shock shaft is being extended from the body, decreasing down travel.

I wish I hand hand model drawing skills, this stuff gets awfully wordy to type but it's easy to see in pictures.

 

Thanks for info. Guess i need to rethink all this lift kit business. Dont want to make my ride worse.

 

The JBA uppers are popular among newer tundra and Tacoma owners. The ones for the first gen tundras probably haven’t been on the market too long. They are high quality shit (good shit) from what I’ve read.

https://jbaoffroad.com/jba-std-high-caster-upper-a-arms-for-toyota-tundra-2000-2006.html

 

What is your overall goal with the truck? Why do you want to lift it? What do you want to do with it?

Knowing answers to this can help you get what you want.

 

Make it look like spectre truck. Hunt fish haul my wild animals (kids). Have it be a smooth riding reliable truck. Not lose down travel...

 

bilstein 5100’s at clip 2 or 3. Don’t use clip 4 or 5 if you want anything resembling “smooth”. Stick with p rated tires.

 

Very common brand of "budget" UCAs, guess for everything but 1st gen tundras lol.

@Darkness awesome explanation sir

 

Are you 4wd or 2wd?

If 4wd I would not lift more than 2" up front and don't raise the rear at all. Not a problem of travel but after that the CV boots tend to fail pretty quick. Look into 5100s like @revtune said, or even the Dobinsons might be fine if they can be set to 2".

When the time for tires comes don't go too gnarly. E rated tires will ride pretty hard, a C or a D rated will ride better. A passenger rated tire will ride best for comfort and a lot of all terrains come in P rated. If you arent hauling any serious weight a P rated will be fine.

 

4wd. Man this thread is bumming me out. It seems like everyone here has lifts. Figured they were all 3 inch lifts. Guess ill contemplate my life more.

 

im at about 2.25" of lift in the front, 5100s at the bottom perch with ARB springs for a taco and it rides beautifully. if you want more than 2.5" i would go with a bracket lift. or long travel... the stock lowers can only go so far.

As for the JBA comment i believe he was referencing more of the tacoma guys, the JBA arms are well known and recommended alot by the taco people

 

I have been looking threads and builds last 6 months. Thought i had it all figured out but guess i didnt realize i was going to lose travel. Ill just keep it to 2-2.5. I was wanting to run 285/75r17 or close to it. (33inch tire). Thats why i was looking at old man emu and dobinsons. 150k on truck. Ill replace whats needed when I am in there. I was waiting to see if any sales for fathers day or 4th of July. I posted a thread a few weeks ago about everything needed for lift but didnt get much traction. I wanted to buy all the stuff before hand so when I hand it over to the shop they have everything they need.

 

Sounds like a good plan then. Losing a little down travel isn't the end of the world. 2-2.5 of lift and you'll be fine.

 

I just got the 2.5" Eibach Pro Lift shipped to me yesterday and will be installing next week, replacing my factory Bilstein shocks with upper spacers. IMO it's the most affordable quality suspension on the market. I've had Icon, Fox, Bilstein 5100, Fabtech, OME & TRD Pro Bilstein on various Yota rigs over the years and Eibach has been by far the best riding. I ordered directly from Eibach but Toytec and Wheelers sells it as well

 

I think you can add 1/4 “lean” spacers on top of a 2” lift to get your 2.5. And not lose the down travel as much

 

Zombie resurrection, commence!!

 

I will admit that one time, at band camp, I found the oldest thread I could on the forum and replied to it. People began piling back in to respond to my amusement.